MEDICAL, TECH EXPERTS WARN AGAINST GIFTING SMARTPHONES THIS HOLIDAY, NOTING RADIATION EXPOSURE RISK
Former President of Microsoft Canada and NIH scientist who led landmark study echo new call from California Dept of Health on reducing cell phone radiation
Washington, DC—In the final days of the holiday shopping season, environmental health and safety experts are warning parents against buying their children smartphones or Wi-Fi enabled toys, noting that they could pose serious health and safety risks according to experts. Today, Environmental Health Trust (EHT) issued an emergency holiday alert, urging parents and grandparents not to buy their children so-called “smart” phones or watches or other wireless toys as holiday gifts and to limit children’s exposures to these devices. Last week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) advised reducing exposures to the microwave radiation also called radio frequency energy from cell phones—noting the special risks to young children.
This press conference was featured in several news articles. On December 20, 2017 the Daily Mail published, “These techy Christmas gifts could raise your child’s risk of CANCER, former US health official warns” and the Washington Times published “Tips for avoiding cellphone radiation.”
“Parents are often unaware that these child-friendly devices are basically two-way microwave radios, and children are much more vulnerable to the health risks of this radiation,” said Devra Davis PhD, MPH, founder and President of Environmental Health Trust. Davis continued, “The scientific evidence is now clear and compelling. We need to give our children toys and tools to grow and learn, not toys and tools which could harm them.”
“I spent my whole career in the technology sector. I’ve seen some tremendous benefits. I’ve also seen if not used properly technology can be harmful. I believe the way we deploy wireless devices today is harmful,” said Frank Clegg, former President of Microsoft Canada and CEO of Canadians For Safe Technology. “Taiwan, our NATO allies in France, Belgium, Italy—they are all doing a much better job of regulating devices and protecting children.”
Since 2011, numerous studies have linked cell phone radiation to cancer and other health problems, causing long-time advisors to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO/IARC) to argue that this radiation should be regarded as a human carcinogen causing glioma—the same type of brain cancer that affected Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain. The landmark $25 million U.S. NIH/NIEHS National Toxicology Program study found long-term that daily exposure to cell phone radiation led to cancers of the brain and heart nerve sheath in male rats, as well as DNA damage in brain cells of exposed animals.
Ronald Melnick PhD, formerly the Senior NIH toxicologist who led the design of the National Toxicology Program study and a Senior Advisor to EHT, said, “THE NTP study was designed to see if there can be any adverse health effects from exposure to cell phone radiation. Results from that study showed that rats developed tumors, gliomas (brain tumors) and malignant schwannomas of the heart. In addition, there was DNA damage in brain cells of exposed animals. This was concerning because studies in humans also found increases of the same types of cancers among cell phone users. In my view, this should raise public health concerns to a much higher level than exists now.”[pdf-embedder url=”https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Holiday-Safety-Alert-Fact-Sheet-EHT-2017.pdf” title=”Holiday Safety Alert Fact Sheet EHT 2017″]All wireless devices, from smartphones to Wi-Fi connected stuffed animals, are two-way microwave radios that send and receive a type of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation called radio frequency (RF) radiation. Children are particularly vulnerable to this type of radiation, which penetrates more deeply into children’s brains than adults.
This holiday season, so-called “smart” toys are being pushed on the marketplace such as:
- Cell Phones and Smartphones
- Virtual Reality Headsets
- Wi-Fi and cell phone connected Dolls
- Tablets and iPads
- Wireless Gaming Systems
- Smart Watches
Environmental Health Trust Factsheets for Parents
Holiday Alert SmartPhones And Wi-Fi Toys
FactSheet: SmartPhones and Wi-Fi Toys Expose Your Child to Radiation
Family FactSheet on How To Reduce Exposure To RadioFrequency Radiation
Holiday Children’s Toys Recommendations
Scientific Imaging, US & Recent International Medical Recommendations
Holiday Toy Alert PDF Compilation of Factsheets
News Articles Covering The Alert
Daily Mail “These techy Christmas gifts could raise your child’s risk of CANCER, former US health official warns”
The Guardian “Techy Christmas gifts raise child’s cancer risk “
Washington Times “Tips for avoiding cellphone radiation”
[pdf-embedder url=”https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Fact-Sheet-Compilation-Holiday-Alert.pdf” title=”Fact Sheet Compilation Holiday Alert”]Devra Lee Davis, PhD MPH
Founder and President of Environmental Health Trust
Currently Visiting Professor of Medicine at The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel, and Ondokuz Mayis University Medical School, Samsun, Turkey. She was the founding director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the U.S. National Research Council and Founding Director, Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. President Clinton appointed Dr. Davis to the newly established Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, and she is a former Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. She has authored more than 200 publications in books and journals ranging from the Lancet and Journal of the American Medical Association to Scientific American in environmental health and cancer. Full Bio
Frank Clegg
Former President of Microsoft Canada, CEO of Canadians for Safe Technology
Mr. Clegg has played a leadership role in the country’s technology sector and in the broader Canadian community for many years. He was longtime President of Microsoft Canada and now CEO of Canadians For Safe Technology, a not-for-profit coalition whose mission is to 1) educate and inform Canadians and policy makers about the dangers of the exposures to unsafe levels of radiation from technology; and 2) to work with all levels of government to create healthier communities for children and families.
Ronald L Melnick, Ph.D.
Dr. Ronald L. Melnick served as a toxicologist for 28+ years at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP), before retiring in 2009. At NTP/NIEHS, Dr. Melnick was involved in the design, monitoring and interpretation of toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of numerous environmental and occupational agents including 1,3-butadiene, chloroprene, isoprene, water disinfection byproducts, etc. He led the design of the NTP carcinogenicity studies of cell phone radiofrequency radiation in rodents. In addition, his research has focused on the use of mechanistic data in assessing human health risks of environmental chemicals. He was manager of the NIEHS Experimental Toxicology Unit, Carcinogenesis and Toxicology Evaluation Branch, and group leader of the NIEHS Toxicokinetics and Biochemical Modeling Group, in the Laboratory of Computational Biology and Risk Analysis. He spent one year as an agency representative at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to work on interagency assessments of health risks of environmental agents and on risk assessment research needs in the Federal government. Dr. Melnick has organized several national and international symposiums and workshops on health risks associated with exposure to toxic and carcinogenic agents, and he has served on numerous scientific review boards and advisory panels, including those of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He is a fellow (emeritus) of the Collegium Ramazzini. Dr. Melnick is the recipient of the American Public Health Association’s 2007 David P. Rall Award for science based advocacy in public health.
